Work Text:
Ace heaved a sigh, partly due to the weight on his back and partly because of the searing heat pressing hard onto his lungs. Over the past few days, the temperatures had been climbing steadily until he couldn't walk around barefoot any longer in fear of burning his feet on the hot asphalt. The air tasted dry and dusty on his lips.
Not that he complained, though. Ace was good with heat, liked the way the sun kissed his skin until his freckles turned darker without actually burning him. It was as if he had been made to endure the highest temperatures known to man, which was also the reason why he was in charge of the campfires whenever they went to stay in the woods and stare at the stars.
Sabo had a decent tolerance for hot weather as well, although he regularly raised an eyebrow at the freckle-faced boy whenever he tried to stare at the sun for too long. Luffy, on the other hand, was an absolute disaster when it came to rising temperatures. The heat usually hit him with the force of a truck and knocked him out. On days like these, he seemed to be made of rubber, simply melting under the heat. That was why he was currently draped over Ace's body; both of them lying on the patio overlooking the small garden of their shared flat.
Ace loved his brother, he truly did, but he hated how Luffy's skin stuck to his like they were glued together. He didn't mind the layer of sweat on his skin, even if Sabo would consistently nag at him to take another shower because of it. It was only whenever Luffy did manage to move a little—despite the state he was in—does it feel like he was ripping parts of Ace's skin off.
Even so, Ace didn't push him off. He had to endure the pain if it meant the heat was easier for Luffy to bear; besides, he was the oldest after all. At least that's what he liked to believe, although Sabo sometimes challenged him on that. Neither of them knew exactly when they were born, so the argument usually fizzled out after they exchanged some heated stares.
Ace was about to let out a lazy chuckle at the memory of their last argument—it had happened over dinner and had resulted in two of four kitchen walls covered with food Sabo had so lovingly prepared for them—when a muffled croak caught his attention.
“Aaace...”
It took him at least three seconds to realise that it was Luffy trying to talk to him and not some dehydrated bird in its death throes. Then he hummed, signalling his brother that he was listening. Instead of answering him, however, Luffy summoned the last remains of his strength and rolled over Ace's body until he was lying on his back, his head neatly placed in the hollow of Ace's knee. It hurt like hell, but Ace had endured worse.
“It's so hooot,” Luffy complained weakly and closed his eyes.
“Then stop rolling around.” Ace propped himself further up and glanced back over his shoulder at his brother. “You're right in front of the cooling fan, so how can you still be this hot?”
Ace hadn't even felt any cool air hit his body for the past half an hour. Now that Luffy was lying on his legs and not his back, no longer blocking the ventilation, he could at least feel a feeble huff of wind skimming over his skin. For a brief moment, he wondered if what he felt was actually the cooling fan or just a breeze. He could've sworn he even saw the treetops move a bit.
Either way, the cooling fan didn't help at all and was probably the reason why Luffy wasn't cooling down properly. A tiny part of Ace thought that now was the perfect chance to play a prank on his defenceless little brother, but his one reasonable braincell (as Sabo usually referred to it) was scared that Luffy was going to experience heat stroke sooner or later. So, Ace mentally tossed some ideas around until he finally arrived at the perfect solution.
He twisted his body, careful not to move Luffy too much, until he faced the entrance to their living room and called Sabo's name, adding an unusual sense of urgency to his voice. He waited for Sabo to make a noise of acknowledgement before he continued.
“Do we still have the baby pool we got when Luffy was an even smaller pipsqueak than he is now?”
Luffy was too weak to counter, only making a strangled noise and not even trying to hit Ace like he normally would've done. Eyeing his little brother with concern, Ace felt relieved once he could hear the shuffling of footsteps coming closer. A few seconds later, Sabo—who was still wearing socks even in this heat—appeared before them with a knife in one of his hands.
Initially startled, Ace quickly remembered that Sabo had offered to prepare some sliced watermelon to make the heat bearable, but he still hadn't expected him to carry the unnecessarily large knife all the way through the flat. Before Ace could point out how he looked like a madman, Sabo furrowed his brows as if deep in thought.
“You mean the inflatable one with the starfish pattern?”
“Yeah, that one. Did we throw it out?”
It was a ridiculous question, really. All of them were hoarders, albeit for different reasons: Sabo usually argued that things could prove useful at a later point in time, Ace mostly forgot to throw stuff out and just stashed it away somewhere, and Luffy was drawn to kitsch like a bird to sparkling objects. And that was exactly why Ace wasn't surprised at Sabo's answer.
“I think we just put it away in one of the cabinets.” He looked at Luffy for a while before he addressed Ace again. “Do you want me to get it and fill it up with cold water?”
While he had phrased it like a question, Ace knew that Sabo had already decided this was their best shot at getting Luffy through the summer. He nodded anyway, thanking Sabo before he went back inside to rummage through the countless cabinets. When he heard the first clank from somewhere inside, Ace simply hoped that Sabo had been smart enough to put the knife away first.
Then, he turned his head and looked up again at the sun sitting in the cloudless sky like a fat yellow cat. He could feel his legs going numb from the additional weight of Luffy's limp body, but decided to ignore it.
“It won't be long, Luffy. Just bear with the heat a little longer.” Ace smiled, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “We'll help you through this. You know you can always count on your older brothers, right?”
Ace knew that Luffy was in no condition to answer him verbally, but the faint noise of gratitude his little brother made was all he needed.